For example, in prior art disclosed in JP 09-077400 A and JP 10-316318 A, as shown in FIG. 10 and FIG. 11, terminals (a call registration operating apparatus and an input apparatus, respectively) are provided with input means (such as a keyboard and a voice command input apparatus) for inputting operation data such as call registration, communication means (a data transmitting/receiving unit and a transmitting/receiving apparatus) with an elevator system, and display means (such as a destination floor arrival confirmation signal outputting unit, an audio unit, and a speaker) for outputting display data such as arrival and an assigned car number.
JP 09-077400A is devised to solve such a problem that a visually handicapped person cannot see a destination floor shown on a call registration button provided on a car operating panel of an elevator, and has difficulty in the operation. A method using voice recognition and a method using Braille are disclosed as prior art for solving this problem in this invention. However, it is anticipated that the first method (voice recognition) has such problems that the cost increases and the registration is hardly conducted if the ambient noise level is high, and the second method (Braille) has such a problem that an arrival at a destination floor cannot be recognized correctly. These problems are solved by preparing a portable call registration apparatus which allows use of a radio signal for registering a call, and registration confirmation by sound or vibration.
Also, in JP 10-316318 A, an operating terminal which can separate time and place from an elevator system for a call input is provided to solve the aforementioned problem relating to the ambient noise when the voice recognition is used. Consequently, it is expected that a noise in a crowded elevator hall and a waiting time for input no longer matter. Also, with this invention, since individual user owns the operating terminal, it is possible to make personal authentication, to show an assigned elevator or escalator to ride on, to input a destination floor using a synonymous concept other than a floor number, to add other functions such as a phone, a beeper, and a vending machine, and to permit/restrict car delivery to a specific floor based on personal authentication.
In the prior art described above, a method is contemplated, in which a dedicated operating terminal is prepared for an elevator, or a dedicated program for an elevator is installed on an operating terminal in advance. However, an elevator is highly public, and it is not practical to prepare an operating terminal dedicated to an elevator for an arbitrary individual user, or to install a program for an elevator on an operating terminal for all users in advance in terms of cost as well.
It is also necessary to adapt an operating terminal to all differences in functions and specifications of individual elevator systems (how to register a landing call, and how to guide, e.g., how to register a destination floor), and it is very difficult to change an operating terminal (or a program in it) every time a new function or a new model is added since the extent of the program and labor of the renewal increase.
An object of the present invention is to realize an elevator operating apparatus which solves these problems, and is provided with an operating terminal which is not dedicated to an elevator, does not require (statically) installing a program dedicated to an elevator, and adapted to all the elevator systems, on an operating terminal of a user in advance, and does not require the user to renew (update) a program.